Operating loss for TNT Express

TNT Express made an operating loss of €280m in the second quarter of 2013 compared with a profit of €94m last year.

Reported revenue was down 3.1 per cent to €1.7bn in the second quarter.

It warned that the business faced challenging trading conditions for the rest of 2013, “with continued negative development of operating results for Europe Main and Europe Other & Americas combined.”

It also expects operating profits to decline in the Pacific region. However, it said, Asia Middle East & Africa was expected to perform better than the prior year.

Tex Gunning, who has taken over as CEO said: “During my first two months, I have had the pleasure to meet with many employees and customers around the world. These meetings have strengthened my confidence about our future: we have attractive market positions that we continue to develop thanks to our highly committed employees.

“But there are also many challenges – and trading conditions remain difficult. The Deliver! programme is therefore vital to improve our performance. We are making good progress in its implementation. We announced the restructuring of our Italian operations in June and will realise important milestones for our overhead and operational process improvement projects after the summer. We should start seeing benefits from Deliver! as the programme gains momentum.”

Looking ahead to 2015, the group said: “Assuming a return to normal economic conditions in Europe (moderate economic growth and 2 per cent annual inflation), ambition for Europe Main and Europe Other & Americas combined to achieve an adjusted operating income margin of around 8 per cent and sales growth for the period of around 2 per cent (CAGR).”

All other segments were expected to contribute to profitability, it said. And it expected to see €220m improvements from the Deliver! Programme.